


Come Home

by QuoteMyFoot



Series: Word Prompts for Three Houses [8]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Pre-Time Skip, but you can call this like pre-adoption, if i can't personally adopt Bernie i'm going to make Alois do it for me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22179694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuoteMyFoot/pseuds/QuoteMyFoot
Summary: When Bernadetta gets into trouble, she's invited by Alois to spend some time with his family.
Relationships: Bernadetta von Varley & Alois Rangeld, Bernadetta von Varley & Alois's Family
Series: Word Prompts for Three Houses [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535843
Comments: 19
Kudos: 60





	Come Home

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the November Daily Prompts on r/FanFiction. **November 8 (Friday Rhymes): Fail & bail.**
> 
> I will probably do a series of Bernie getting adopted by Alois and family. It is a CRIME that they don't have a paired ending to this effect.

_Oh no… why do I ruin everything I touch?_ Bernie had never run so fast in her life as she made her escape back to her room. _Stupid Bernie, everyone hates you, you’re a failure and no one wants you. You’re going to be sent home—_

Sent home.

Bernie tripped on a step and fell heavily on her hands and knees. She sniffled and got to her feet, wincing at her bloodied palms. Everything was just… awful! If she was going to be sent home after failing miserably at the Academy, she might as well just die now… her father would never be indifferent to her after this…

Her room wasn’t that far away now. She may as well spend her last night in comfort…

“Bernadetta! What happened?”

She shrieked and backed away. Her room was just around the corner! _Maybe if I get there quickly and shut the door…!_

“Wait, you are hurt!”

“Huh?” That didn’t sound like the voice of someone who wanted to kill her… “A-Alois?”

“You must have fallen,” Alois said. He patted the top of her head with one of his giant hands, like her uncle used to do. “But it’s only a graze! I bet Manuela can fix you up in no time at all!”

“No!” Bernie squeaked, screwing her eyes shut. How humiliating to have to tell the only person at Garreg Mach—maybe the only person in the _world—_ who didn’t hate her that she’d messed up. “I-I mean, she won’t want to! I’m so stupid… I…”

And they were going to send her back _home._

Alois put his hands on his shoulders. “Calm down, Bernadetta. Is this about the weapons in the training ground?”

She let out a strangled sound. _He already knows?!_

“Don’t worry!” He beamed, and Bernie blinked at him, uncomprehending. “It was an accident! No one is upset!”

She stared at him and Alois’s smile eventually began to fade.

_I knew it,_ she thought. _He was just trying to make me feel better, I’m in so much trouble—_

“It’s nearly time for dinner,” Alois said, confusing Bernie even more with the non-sequitur. “What were you planning to eat?”

“U-Uh…” The idea of telling him she was going to hide in her room and maybe run to the dining hall right at the end to grab leftovers was way too embarrassing.

Alois patted her on the shoulder. “If you didn’t have any plans, why don’t you come eat with my family?”

“Wh—what?”

“I’m sure my wife would love to meet you!” he continued, a distant look in his eyes. “Oh, and Emilia loves finding new playmates—she’s beginning to walk now you know—she’s the most beautiful child in the whole world! She…”

Alois started walking with his hand still on Bernie’s shoulder, forcing her to stumble along. Not that she really wanted to go anywhere else… Alois was so big and broad that she felt quite safe tucked against his side, and there was something soothing about listening to him talk about his daughter. She forgot about the stinging grazes. He made Emilia sound so wonderful… even just listening to him, Bernie knew little Emilia was going to be really great, like her father! Not a disappointment at all. Not like Bernie…

“Here we are!”

Alois stopped in front of a large monastery building that Bernie hadn’t been in before. It was large and elaborately styled with arches and carvings around the doors. It reminded her a little of the manor at home, although it was far older, but all the different doors made it just look like a grown up version of the dorms. _If it’s for the Knights of Seiros, maybe it **is** a grown up version of the dorms?_

“A-Am I allowed in?” she whispered. What if it was a test and she was really supposed to say, ‘no, I know I’m not allowed in there?’… but Alois wouldn’t do that… but maybe he just didn’t know—

“Of course!” His voice seemed to barrel over Bernie’s concerns, even just the ones inside her own head. “You are my guest!”

He even opened the door for her. He was so polite and nice, always!

“My darlings!” Alois announced. “I am home, and I have brought a guest for dinner!”

“DADA!”

Bernie squeaked at the deafening noise and looked around for somewhere to hide before she realised it came from the small child waddling across the room as fast as her little legs could carry her. She walked by holding on to the table, but when it ran out she threw herself to the floor and crawled the rest of the way in the blink of an eye.

_She’s fast…_

Alois scooped her off the floor and held her above his head. Emilia kicked her legs with a squeal of delight. “Dada!”

“Yes, Daddy is home!” he said, drawing her to his chest for a hug. “Have you been a good girl for mama while I’ve been gone?”

“Good!” She beamed and giggled when Alois patted the top of her head, and in return she clumsily patted his cheek. “Good!”

Instead of being upset at the tiny hand slapping his eye, Alois laughed. “And this is our guest! What do we say to guests, Emilia?”

Emilia waved at Bernadetta. “Welk t’ohm!”

Bernie stared at her blankly.

“That’s right! ‘Welcome to our home!’”

_Oh._

“Good!” Emilia declared, jutting her cheek towards Alois until he kissed it, laughing.

“This is Bernadetta,” Alois said. “Can you say Ber-na-det-ta?”

“Berd.”

“No, Ber-na-det-ta.”

“Berd,” Emilia said firmly.

She grinned and waved whilst Alois sighed.

“H-Hi,” Bernie breathed, managing to wave back.

Despite the friendliness, her stomach churned uncomfortably. They were both very loud, but… she didn’t think that was it. Alois was loud all the time and it never usually bothered her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a tall woman, only a little shorter than Alois, with dark hair and freckles. She wiped her hands on a cloth, but only succeeded in spreading the flour over them. “Oh, is this one of the students?”

“Berd!” Emilia said.

“This is _Bernadetta,_ ” Alois said carefully.

The woman stuck her hand out towards Bernie. “Hi! I’m Amelie, Alois’s wife. I’m so sorry, I don’t have anything special prepared…”

Bernie was so overwhelmed that she felt a little dizzy, but she didn’t want to offend, so she let Amelie grab her hand and shake it vigorously. Bernie tried to hide a wince as the grazes on her hands were squeezed, but Amelie still caught it, frowning.

_Oh no, she’s going to be so annoyed…and after Alois—_

“Alois,” she scolded, turning over Bernie’s hands, “you should’ve said that she’d hurt herself! Don’t worry, I can fix this in a moment…”

Her hands glowed with the warmth of healing magic, and in a second the grazes on Bernie’s hands faded away like they’d never been there at all. “You can do magic?”

“That’s right! I was in the Knights of Seiros before our little girl was born.” Her eyes sparkled. “It comes in handy with all the scrapes these two get into.”

“It was all Emilia’s idea!” Alois said quickly.

Amelie laughed, shaking her head, and Emilia clapped her hands together and laughed along, although it wasn’t clear she understood what the joke was.

Bernie’s stomach turned over. It was just so… nice. She couldn’t remember a time when her father had ever been pleased to see her, or her mother – she didn’t remember laughing at home or being allowed to joke… if she came to her father with grazed hands, she’d be punished for her clumsiness.

It just felt wrong. Like being in a pleasant dream, but with a creeping sense of dread, knowing that something terrible was coming. Knowing that Bernie didn’t belong in a nice family, and as soon as they realised all the things that were wrong with her, she’d never be allowed back—!

“In any case, it’s nice to have someone join us for dinner.” Amelie smiled at Bernadetta. “I hope we won’t scare you away! We’re quite an excitable family!”

Bernie just shook her head. _Alois isn’t scary. And even if he was, I wouldn’t want to say that here…_

It was a surreal experience to sit down to dinner, even if it was just sandwiches and leftover stew. They talked and talked, even Emilia, who only knew a handful of words and babbled everything else in authoritative, knowing tones that had her parents nodding along and saying ‘yes, darling’ and ‘oh, is that so?’. They didn’t tell her to be quiet or put her in another room or anything!

Maybe it was because they didn’t have any servants to watch her, so they had to put up with it. By the time Bernadetta was four, her Father had been able to silence her with a mere look. She knew what that look meant. She still had nightmares about it.But he’d also been able to order the servants to take her away and put her in the basement if she tried his patience too badly, so he wouldn’t have to interrupt his meal or his work. Alois and Amelie couldn’t do that.

As dinner went on, though, Emilia was only smiling and happy and didn’t seem afraid of her parents at all. More than that, as Bernie sat and listened to their chatter, smiling and giggling at odd moments… she found that _she_ wasn’t afraid of Emilia’s parents, either.

It was just… nice… to sit there with them. Bernie couldn’t ever remember feeling this relaxed during dinners at Varley Manor with her own family.

She was jolted from her thoughts when Emilia shouted, “Berd!”

“Y-Yes?” Bernie asked.

The little girl waved her hand frantically. “Come!”

Amelie was smiling behind her hand.

“She wants you to go next to her,” Alois said with a chuckle.

Bernie didn’t get it. Was it a joke at her expense? Was Emilia being too bothersome? Did they want Bernie to distract her for a bit?

Well, she couldn’t say no when they’d been so kind as to give her dinner. Not that she could say anything _at all_ right now, with her throat closed up from nerves. She dutifully walked around the table to Emilia’s high-chair, biting her lip.

Emilia giggled and patted the top of Bernie’s head. “Berd good!”

She blinked. _I am… good?_

Alois burst into a fit of laughter. “She likes to give pats when she’s happy. Yes, darling, Berd is good! And what a good girl you are as well, Emilia!”

“ _Bernadetta,”_ Amelie hissed.

“Er, yes. _Bernadetta_ is good.”

“Berd good!” Emilia repeated. She patted Bernie’s head again. “Good girl!”

Alois groaned as his wife sighed. “Oh no… it’s stuck now. I’m so sorry, Bernadetta, she sometimes gets stubborn like this—”

Bernie’s lip was quivering. “It’s… it’s okay.”

_She thinks I’m good._

It was silly to be so happy about it. Emilia was just a toddler, after all. She wouldn’t know all the reasons that Bernie was a failure, a worthless daughter. But… she didn’t have to be nice. None of them had to be nice, especially to someone like Bernie.

But… they were anyway.

“U-Um… Emilia is a good girl, too,” Bernie said.

Emilia gasped and clapped her hands together, grinning delightedly. “Yes! Good!”

She jumped up in her chair and threw herself at Bernadetta without warning, arms outstretched. Bernie let out a squeak of fright as she wrapped her arms own around the tiny body, trying not to drop the unexpected weight. She stared at Alois and Amelie, trying to look apologetic but not daring to move too much in case she disturbed their daughter. _I didn’t know she would jump! I almost dropped her! I’m sorry I’m sorry…_

Emilia locked her hands at the back of Bernie’s neck and lay her head on her shoulder with a contented sigh. “Mmm… Good cuddle.”

She just wanted a cuddle? A cuddle from _Bernie?_ It was weird… but… nice. Bernie couldn’t remember the last time someone had hugged her just… just because they wanted to. Maybe her uncle, before he died?

“Oh… how cute!” Amelie said. “She’s really taken to you, Bernadetta.”

Suddenly, there was a series of loud knocks at the door ringing in Bernadetta’s head. Her stomach sunk to the floor—it must be someone here to punish her after all, why did she think it would ever be okay, now they were going to be even more mad—

But when Alois got up to answer it, the soldier at the door burst out with, “Sir, some of the students are concerned about a student Bernadetta von Varley. She’s not in her room and—”

She stopped as she looked past Alois’s shoulder and saw Bernadetta and Emilia.

“…Sir. Is that the student in question?”

Alois nodded.

The soldier sighed. “I will go and tell the Black Eagles professor not to worry. Good day, sir.”

She slammed the door.

Alois coughed.

Amelie rested her chin on clasped hands and regarded him very sternly. “Dear?”

He laughed, but it came out a little funny. “Aha… well, in my rush to offer Bernadetta some comfort, I may have… overlooked… the fact that she was being searched for and might be missed if she couldn’t be found.”

His wife buried her face in her hands. “You just bailed on them without saying anything? _Alois!”_

“Out of concern!”

Concern? For Bernie? He really was like her uncle. But she didn’t want him to get in trouble because of her. “I-It’s okay! It’s my fault really! I’ll just go and then I won’t bother anyone any more—”

She was surprised when Amelie cut her off with a casual wave of her hand, still glaring at Alois. “Oh, don’t be silly, this is _entirely_ my husband’s fault.”

“Dada no good?” Emilia said.

“Yes, Emmi, Daddy made a mistake.”

Emilia pointed at Alois and shouted, “Daddy no good!”

Bernie cringed at the noise right next to her ear, but she was too afraid of dropping Emilia to move.

Amelie made a shushing noise. “Don’t shout, sweetie. Daddy was wrong but he’s going to make it better and say sorry. _Isn’t he?_ ”

Alois nodded sheepishly.

“Right,” she continued. “So we don’t shout at people if they’re going to make it better.”

Emilia appeared to have lost interest anyway and was playing with Bernadetta’s hair. The whole thing was confusing, but Bernie supposed it was because Alois was normally good? So if he did one thing wrong, it wasn’t because he was a complete failure like Bernie, and therefore he got a chance to make it up without being punished or yelled at?

Right. That made sense. No one would treat Bernie that way because when _she_ did stuff wrong, it was because she was useless. Getting a chance to make amends would just make it all worse. She didn’t deserve that kind of leeway.

Except… Alois didn’t yell at her about the weapons. And their professor didn’t punish her when she didn’t know things. And the other Black Eagles still talked to her and spent time with her, instead of giving up on her like she deserved.

They were just too nice for their own good, that was all. But Bernie had to admit that it was nice to feel wanted. To feel like she had friends…

Emilia raised her head. “Berd welk t’ohm again?”

“Yes, Bernadetta is welcome to visit us again,” Amelie said. “If she wants to.”

“I-I’d love to!” Bernie managed to spit out.

_It’s nice to feel like part of a loving family… even if it’s not mine._

“Yes!” Emilia patted Bernie’s cheek. “Berd good. Berd come home!”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this for a while and just wanted to finally get it out there, so it might be a little rough around the edges, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! I welcome all comments!


End file.
